We Must Do More Than Merely Avoid the NCLB Train Wreck
Huffington Post Blog, November 29, 2011
The Obama administration’s decision to allow states to request waivers from No Child Left Behind was a step in the right direction, but only a baby step.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Teachers Say GOP Action Hurting Kids
Times Daily, AL, November 29, 2011
With the Republican-controlled Legislature’s vow to push for changes in public employee benefits and legalizing charter schools, education officials, including those with local teacher unions, say teachers are targets and children are the victims.
CALIFORNIA
Individual Los Angeles Schools Gain New Autonomy
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 29, 2011
Under a union pact with L.A. Unified that still needs ratification, charters lose some of their competitive edge.
Parents Seeing Charter Schools As Alternative
San Bernardino Sun, CA, November 29, 2011
Seventy-one new charter schools opened in the state this school year, bringing the total number of charter schools in the state to 982, according to a California charter school advocacy group.
CONNECTICUT
New Rules Set For State Charter Schools
CT Post, CT, November 29, 2011
New regulations have been approved to prohibit people from sitting on more than one Connecticut charter school board or helping run companies that manage their schools.
GEORGIA
Richmond County Schools To Pilot New Teacher Grading System
WRDW-TV, GA, November 29, 2011
The new year is almost a month a way and with that new year will come a new system for 26 Georgia school districts including Richmond County .
ILLINOIS
Charter Schools Produce Wildly Uneven Results on State Tests
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, November 30, 2011
Chicago charter school franchises produced wildly uneven results — even among different campuses of the same chain — on state achievement test data released Wednesday for the first time in more than a decade.
Emanuel Defends More Schools for AUSL Intervention Group
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 29, 2011
Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacted angrily Tuesday to questions of whether it was a conflict of interest to award management of six new turnaround schools to the Academy for Urban School Leadership, whose former executives were handpicked by the mayor to help run Chicago Public Schools.
INDIANA
Stonegate Charter High School To Close At Semester’s End
Indianapolis Star, IN, November 29, 2011
Stonegate Early College High School, once a prime local example of the promise of charter schools, will close permanently next month because of financial woes and low enrollment — problems that often plague charters.
Decades of Hoosier School Choice Threatened by Unions
Northwest Times, IN, November 30, 2011
For decades, Indiana ‘s school-choice programs have helped send Hoosier students to the colleges of their choice and provided school books and bus transportation for children in private schools. Never before have programs like these been challenged on constitutional grounds. Until now.
LOUISIANA
Sojourner Truth Academy to Close in May
Times Picayune, LA, November 29, 2011
Sojourner Truth Academy, a small charter high school along Napoleon Avenue in Uptown, will close its doors after this academic year, admitting defeat in a losing struggle to raise test scores above state standards.
Jefferson Community School Is Unsustainable In Its Current Form
Times Picayune, LA, November 29, 2011
The enormous per-pupil costs at a Jefferson Parish charter school for at-risk students would be ridiculous even if the school system was flush with money. But budget shortfalls have forced officials to make substantial cuts on other campuses, and that makes the Jefferson Community School ‘s current situation unacceptable.
MASSACHUSETTS
Lifeline for Lawrence
Boston Herald, MA, November 30, 2011
State education leaders yesterday agreed to appoint an outside receiver to take charge of the “chronically underperforming” Lawrence public schools. It is a drastic but necessary step given the leadership vacuum in that struggling city and the fear that 13,000 kids are being punished because the adults are so busy playing dysfunctional political family.
State OKs Charter School Expansion
The Salem News, MA, November 30, 2011
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a 20 percent increase in the enrollment of Salem Academy Charter School at a meeting yesterday in Malden .
MICHIGAN
Avoid Past Mistakes In Charter School Expansion
Detroit Free Press, MI, November 29, 2011
The Michigan Legislature looks committed to pass charter and school choice expansion legislation, going even further than proposals made by Gov. Rick Snyder this spring. Given the likelihood of passage, it is important that this legislation as proposed be improved to prevent the same mistakes that were made when public school academies were first created, and that have continued to polarize debate on this issue ever since.
Education Committee Considers Cap On Charter Schools
The News-Herald, MI, November 29, 2011
The state House Education Committee was scheduled to meet twice this week to consider Senate Bill 618, which would lift the state’s cap on the number of charter schools.
The Bullying Issue and School Choice
Dearborn Press & Guide, MI, November 29, 2011
The Michigan Legislature, media and education establishments have discussed two controversial subjects in recent weeks, namely, bullying policy and school choice. Thus far, no one has connected the dots by relating these issues to one another.
Michigan Dems Introduce Ban on For-Profit Schools
Michigan Public Radio, MI, November 29, 2011
Democrats at the state Capitol are calling for an amendment to the Michigan constitution that would outlaw for-profit schools. Four out of five charter schools in Michigan currently operate as for-profit schools.
NEW JERSEY
Charter Schools Sue State, Claiming They’ve Been Shortchanged
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, November 30, 2011
A group of Jersey City charter schools have sued the Christie administration to correct what they say has been a stark underfunding of their schools, throwing a twist into the ongoing debate over how New Jersey’s charters are paid for.
Opportunity Scholarship Act / Wrong Approach
Press of Atlantic City , NJ, November 30, 2011
This week, activists on both sides have scheduled rallies over the Opportunity Scholarship Act, another piece in Gov. Chris Christie’s school reform agenda. Opponents of the law are set to protest in Jersey City today. Supporters are to rally in Trenton on Thursday.
NEW MEXICO
Local Public Charter School Considers Adding Grades 9-12
St. Cloud Times, NM, November 29, 2011
Discussions about whether Stride Academy should attempt to open a high school are taking shape as the public charter school completes plans to shift the fifth grade to the middle school to provide more space.
NEW YORK
National Report Praises School-Choice System for New York City Students
New York Times, NY, November 30, 2011
New York has the most effective school-choice system of any of the nation’s largest school districts, allowing students and parents the most freedom and providing them with the most relevant information on educational performance, according to a new Brookings Institution report scheduled for publication online Wednesday.
Protesters Disrupt DOE Hearing On Proposed Brooklyn Charter School
NY1, NY, November 29, 2011
The K293 building in Cobble Hill is already home to two secondary schools and one special education program, but Department of Education officials say there’s still space for 700 students. Success Academy Charter Schools wants to use up 190 of those spots for a charter that would serve kindergarten through fourth grade.
When Charter Schools Don’t Provide Busing
Buffalo News Blog, NY, November 29, 2011
Well, let’s take a minute to consider how these four schools may have been affected by their decisions not to offer transportation.
PENNSYLVANIA
Two Theories On Why Coatesville School’s Charter Was Revoked
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 30, 2011
After the school board in Chester County’s Coatesville Area School District revoked the charter of the Graystone Academy Charter School , two very different explanations emerged.
Sen. Jeffrey Piccola Says If Voucher Bill Isn’t Passed In 2 Weeks, It Might Get Ignored In An Election Year
Patriot News, PA, November 29, 2011
Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, didn’t say it’s now or never for school vouchers, but he clearly expressed a view that the time to enact a school choice plan in Pennsylvania is now or not until after next year’s election at the earliest.
RHODE ISLAND
Aspiring Providence Charter Operator’s 4 Connecticut Schools Fail To Make Progress
Providence Journal, RI, November 29, 2011
Four Connecticut charter schools operated by Achievement First, which hopes to open two elementary schools in Providence , did not make adequate yearly progress during the 2010-2011 academic year.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charters, Look But Don’t Touch
Charleston Post and Courier, SC, November 30, 2011
You’ve got to wonder whether they teach George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” at charter schools — particularly the part about how all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Because the lesson doesn’t seem to be sinking in.
TENNESSEE
State Wades Into Blount County Charter School Debate
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN, November 29, 2011
Folks gathered at the Blount County Schools central office Tuesday afternoon appeared to have one of two opinions: the proposed HOPE Academy is either the best option to upgrade school system or a waste of $1.5 million from the budget.
State May Take Responsibility for 68 Underperforming MCS Schools
My Fox Memphis, TN, November 29, 2011
If everything goes as planned, those 68 Memphis city schools will become what is called “the Achievement School District ,” a state run district with its own superintendent, Chris Barbic.
Power Up
Memphis Daily News, TN, November 30, 2011
The company that operates the Power Center Academy charter school in Hickory Hill has made the list of charter schools the Tennessee Department of Education will use as part of its Achievement School District .
Tennessee Public Education Reform Goals Must Be Realistic
Jackson Sun, TN, November 30, 2011
The Haslam administration’s goal of improving Tennessee public education students’ proficiency scores by 20 percent over the next five years is noteworthy. But it should come with a warning notice that says past attempts at such improvement have proven elusive, and are easier said than done.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
Teaneck School Officials Want ‘Antiquated’ Charter Law Changed
The Record, NJ, November 29, 2011
School district officials issued a rallying cry Tuesday, urging residents to lobby state education officials and the Legislature to amend an “antiquated” law that fails to address funding for virtual charter schools.
Cyber Schools Must Improve
York Dispatch, PA, November 29, 2011
Cyber schools aren’t for everyone. But for a growing number of Pennsylvania students and their families, it’s an attractive alternative to the traditional classroom setting — students learning from home via computer, at their own pace and around their particular schedules.
Will Virginia’s First Virtual School Report Separate Test Results?
Washington Post Blog, DC, November 29, 2011
In 2009, the Virginia Virtual Academy (VAVA) became the commonwealth’s first full-time online school — a public institution open to students from kindergarten through eighth grade across the state.
GACS Honored By Apple For Blended LearningDunwoody Crier, GA, November 29, 2011
For its GAC iLearn program launched in 2010, the Apple education team for independent schools has named GAC “the most progressive blended learning environment in the U.S. ”